Places to Live: Port Hope

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The Ganaraska River in Port Hope is renowned for its spring steelhead run. But competing for top billing at this time of year is an annual river race that sees paddlers make their way down the waterway in canoes, kayaks and an assortment of DIY rafts. “It marks the arrival of spring in our community,” Barry Adamson, co-chair of Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny, says of the annual event held in commemoration of the 1980 flood that devastated the town. “The story goes that the year after the flood, a bunch of Port Hopians decided the Ganaraska wasn’t going to be their enemy but their friend and they were going to celebrate not the flood but the river. It’s there, it’s ours and we enjoy it – and get on something and float down it.” A group called the Port Britain Pops rides the waves on a raft made of 350 2L pop bottles and encased in orange snow fencing.The event is testament to the spirit of this tight-knit community, located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Northumberland County just east of Durham Region. The “juxtaposition of experiences” makes it unique, believes marketing manager Kevin Narraway. “You can be in the hubbub and traffic of the Greater Toronto Area at 11am and then be in the calm rural charm of Port Hope for noon,” he says. Over the next few hours, you can hit the beach, savour an espresso at a street-front café, go horseback riding through rolling farmland, sample goat milk-based fudge at Haute Goat and enjoy a cocktail on the patio of a downtown bistro. “The wonderful thing is that it’s all authentic and laced with character and charm,” Narraway says. Port Hope was incorporated as a town in 1834. “We have generation after generation of families here and a lot of community involvement,” says Mayor Bob Sanderson. He hopes newcomers will share that passion. “People come here with so much talent…We’re trying to harness that and get people involved in community projects.” Signature events include the All Canadian Jazz Festival, Port Hope Fall Fair and Canada Day celebrations. Cultivate – a festival of local food and drink, is a celebration of the harvest and reminds the community of its rural roots. Port Hope is accessible by Hwy. 401 and VIA Rail. Metrolinx has committed to extending GO Transit’s Lakeshore East rail corridor to offer new GO train service from Oshawa to Bowmanville, which is located 35km east of Port Hope. The extension of Hwy. 407 to Durham and increasing housing prices in that region are expected to push Port Hope’s current population of 16,500. The largest developer in Port Hope, AON, has pre-approval for 400 to 450 homes and additional development is expected. “The plan is to grow to about 25,000 residents and then maintain this level,” says Narroway. As the federal government’s industrial cleanup of historic low-level radioactive waste from various sites continues, the community is committed to building a legacy of green projects and programs. Meanwhile, interest in the Port Hope Business Park – which laid empty for a decade – is on the uptick. “We now have over 50% of the lots sold or with pending offers. This will increase employment in the community by about 100 jobs in the immediate future,” says Narroway. The municipality is also eyeing 200 acres of major employment land with the hope of capitalizing on Hwy. 407. “That kind of activity starts the ball rolling and now we’re getting developers starting to look for development opportunities like banquet halls, multiple residential condos and commercial,” says Sanderson. “You can feel that it’s just ahead of the curve. If we can manage it and plan properly, we can sustain the stuff that makes us unique as a small community.”

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